“There are only a few words that accurately describe Yaacov Agam,” says Park West Gallery Founder and CEO Albert Scaglione. “‘Innovator’, ‘genius’, and, yes, ‘icon.’ The man is definitely an icon.”

That’s exactly how the Jerusalem Post Magazine describes Agam in its new profile of the world-famous artist. The magazine devoted a recent cover story to Agam—titled “An Icon at 90”—in celebration of the artist’s milestone birthday this past May.

The Agam cover story in the June 8, 2018 edition of the Jerusalem Post Magazine

Scaglione has represented Agam’s art for over 40 years and appreciates how the article places the artist’s career in context.

“It shows how he started out as this true artistic rebel and eventually evolved into one of the most significant Israeli artists of all time, “ says Scaglione. “It’s wonderful to see Agam being given his due.”

Park West Gallery Founder and CEO Albert Scaglione and Agam in 2014

The Jerusalem Post interviewed Agam in its profile, taking readers from Agam’s early days at the new Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem to last year’s official opening of the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art in the artist’s hometown of Rishon LeZion, Israel.

Agam notes that his museum’s mission is to “educate Israeli children and teach them how to become creative. To teach children—even while they are still inside their mother’s wombs—to see, really look, and not to remain closed and rigid.”

The interior of the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art in Rishon LeZion, Israel.

Not many artists have an entire museum devoted to their works, but Agam is a special case. He has art in museums and art installations all over the world. He also has the distinction of being the art world’s best-selling Israeli artist.

“Three years ago, at a public auction of Israeli and Jewish art in New York, someone paid $700,000 for one of my pictures,” says Agam. “No other work of an Israeli artist—alive or dead—has fetched a higher sum.”

Agam gives guests a personal tour at the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art in 2017.

In a charitable act befitting an icon, Agam is currently leveraging the success of his museum and his record-breaking auctions to help open a cultural and art education center in Rishon LeZion.

He tells the Jerusalem Post that opening the center was his wish for himself for his 90th birthday, adding, “I will not rest until I fulfill my dream.”

For more information about Agam and his works, or to add an iconic work by Yaacov Agam to your collection, contact our gallery consultants at (800) 521-9654 ext. 4 during business hours, or email sales@parkwestgallery.com.